Secondary sport: Rugby team makes McGlashan history

The first XV made history when it beat Otago Boys’ 1st XV for the first time in the school’s 98-year history.

The match was a close affair and was not decided until the last play of the game.  To earn the right to play Otago Boys’, JMC had to first win the Southern Wide 1st XV competition and ODT Cup. It did this by beating Waitaki Boys’ 23-0 at Forsyth Barr Stadium. It then travelled to Invercargill to play Southland Boys’ in the Highlanders final, when it suffered its first loss of the season, 31-17.

All winter codes have enjoyed success this year. Both the 1st and 2nd XI hockey and football sides made their respective finals. Both second XIs were victorious, while both first teams ended up second. The 1st hockey side lost 3 -1 to a very good King’s team and the footballers went down to an equally good Otago Boys’ side by the same score. Both senior and junior basketball teams are in the semifinals of their respective grades. East Otago High School With winter coming to an end, so too are many sports. The hockey team — with a mixture of boys and girls from years 7 to 13 — was first in the third division boys grade. The miniball team, made up of mainly year 7s, was third in its competition at the Edgar Centre. This is the first experience some of the  pupils have had with a basketball.

Snowboarding has been popular with some  pupils this season, and three year 13 pupils, Ryan Scurr, James Bungard and Rowan Jenkinson, all achieved their level 3 snowboarding PE assessment with merit. The year 12 class were at the Cardrona Snow Farm, trying level 2 cross-country skiing, which Bob Martin and Josh Ollerenshaw achieved with excellence.

Otago Girls’ High School

Otago Girls’ has continued its sporting successes over an increasing range of disciplines. Alaina Baker competed at the Auckland international judo competition recently, against representatives from 11 countries, and won a bronze medal.

Hannah Moore and Jenna Thorne have been selected for the South Island under-17 volleyball development team to compete in the Australian state volleyball championships in Brisbane in October and Hannah King has been selected as the team reserve.

Grace Hogan, Joy Dvoracek and Sasha Freeman competed at the Otago-Southland snowboarding championships and were the first female team home. Grace also received a bronze medal in the girls slopestyle event. Chloe Bryson, Sophie Dijkstra, Molly McCall, Jade  Middleditch, Tahlia Roome, Crystal Van Gorp, and Abby Vinicombe have been named in the 2016 Otago under-17 representative football team. Michaela Day, Gemma Millar and Storm Maole have been named in the OSS rugby team.

The school had several top placings in the recent regional aerobics championships: junior secondary open novice, Ruby Cameron, second; secondary fitness team, Six Pack (Blaire Hanna, Summer Johnson, Caitlin Thomson, Tahlia Roome, Ava McFadgen, Brianna Parker), first; rookie teams,  Emily Finnie and Meredith Walker, third; junior secondary team, Stella Keogh and Megan Threlfall, second. Abby Stevens, Alyssa Shelton and Caitlin Thomson all placed at the Southland regional competition and 18 girls will compete in the aerobics national competition.

Maniototo Area School

Curlers representing New Zealand  at the junior B world championships in Ostersund, Sweden in January are Matthew Neilson, Ben Smith, Anton Hood, and Courtney Smith.

Matthew Neilson, Simon Neilson, Ben Smith and Dylan Boulton-Voice all won silver medals in the nationals at Naseby. Anton Hood’s team won bronze medals. At the under-21 tournament in Dunedin, both local teams won gold.At the NZ mixed doubles in Naseby, Ben and Jessica Smith narrowly went down in the final. Anton Hood and Courtney Smith finished fifth.

Reuben Pyle made the Otago Country under-18 rugby team.  Dante Devitt and Damian Carson were selected for the Otago Country under-13 team. The Otago Country under-14 squad includes Doug Smith, Jotahn Croawell and Te Ariki Tapatu.At New Zealand Area Schools, Matthew Neilson was named in the South Island and NZ teams for basketball and volleyball, Anton Hood was selected for South Island and NZ at volleyball. Other South Island selections were: Keagan Mulholland and Lakita Taylor (basketball), Reuben Pyle and Ben Smith (rugby and volleyball), Courtney Smith (volleyball), Tash Whyte (football). Damian Carson was fourth overall in the golf.

Tash Whyte played for the Maniototo women’s hockey team. The side had a great season but lost to Alexandra in the final.

Paris Anderson and Madi Pont played in the winning Dunstan junior girls hockey team. Madi is in the Central Otago under-15 hockey team.

Dion Voyce was second in the senior men’s national luge competition, second in the Naseby Cup and third in the nationals.

Rina Watt played for the NZ under-18 women’s ice hockey team in Gore against Leeside, Toronto and Canada.

St Hilda’s Collegiate

St Hilda’s had its largest team of girls to date compete at the recent NZCAF regional hip hop and aerobics competition in Dunedin. Many girls made finals and progressed to the nationals  in Dunedin in mid-September.

Sophie Sinclair also competed at the NZSSS gymsports aerobics championships in Auckland at the end of July,winning a bronze medal.All three St Hilda’s hockey teams had an enjoyable season, finishing in second place in their respective divisions of the secondary school girls competition.St Hilda’s had 13 of 18 teams finish in top-three positions in the Dunedin competition. This included five first placings, two second placings and six third placings, including the senior A team which beat Taieri College 65-35 in the premier A reserve grade.

Four St Hilda’s rowers, Claudia Maker, Gabby Hunter, Georgia Hay and Josie Cook, have been named in the Otago interprovincial team after successful trials.  They will be competing at the interprovincial regatta in Twizel in October.

King’s High School

The Wednesday secondary school football competitions finished recently and the school was well represented by eight of the teams in either semifinals or finals.

King’s  and Queen’s high schools combined to achieve a South Island first at the national secondary school surfing championships in Raglan last week.

The team of five King’s pupils and one girl from Queen’s finished second behind Mount Maunganui College, the first time a South Island team had finished in the top five. Year 12 pupil Elliott Brown (16) was third in the under-16 division and has been selected to represent New Zealand at the World Scholastic Championships in Portugal in mid-September. At the recent OSS smallbore rifle champs King’s took both first and second placings. The third team placed eighth. The big upset was that the second team beat the first team.

The second team comprised  Cameron Bradley, James Young, Angus Weir and Jordan Baker. The senior A ice hockey team won the OSSSA competition when it beat John McGlashan 4-3 in the final.

Roxburgh Area School

This month the school celebrated the Olympics by having its  own Roxburgh Olympics run by the sports council. It is yet to be completed.The senior netball competition has been completed with the A team ending fourth in A grade and the B team fifth in C grade. Jonty McKinnel is heading to Hamilton to captain  the Barbarians New Zealand area school rugby team against  New Zealand Harlequins in first weekend in September. Jonty is also playing for the Otago Country under-18 team over the next few weeks.The school is preparing for the Central Otago volleyball tournament in September and the leaders are looking forward to the Sports leaders breakfast next month.

Dunstan High School

Dunstan High School sent a combined team to this year’s gymsports secondary school nationals. The school had four pupils competing in various events throughout the weekend and they came away with 18 medals.The school also had four teams competing in the SISSS kayak-polo championships the following weekend. The senior girls and junior boys teams won gold medals and the junior girls and senior boys finished with silver. Dunstan’s two mixed ski teams finished second and third overall at the OSS event.Two of the schools multisport teams participated in the Peak to Peak race. The senior boys won their section and the junior boys competed strongly.The senior A netball team has had a strong end to the club season. It  won the Barbara Bell Memorial Cup, a trophy Dunstan had not held for many years, and won the top grade of the Central Otago Competition.

Logan Park High School

Badminton player Jorja Hutton continues to impress. Her Otago team came second overall in her division at the nationals in July. In the Otago champs, Jorja won the plate final and the mixed doubles final. Along with Cathy Zeng, who is also an Otago representative player, they won the girls doubles. Jorja also competed in the Canterbury champs recently and was second in the doubles.

Rebecca Dalphin had a successful tournament with the Otago under-14 football team in July.  She was also second in the Otago cross-country champs earlier this season.The school hockey team came third in the second division and was second in the junior division, winning all games until the final game against Otago Boys’ High School.The student sports council continues to organise lunchtime interhouse sports competitions and futsal has featured this month. There is fierce competition for the house shield and Omimi House is leading.The summer sports sign-ups have started, with good numbers in volleyball and futsal.The school has two teams preparing for the Get to Go Adventure Racing Challenge coming up next month.

Excitement is building for the Kingaroy High School sports exchange to the Gold Coast during the September holidays, when the school will play sports including touch, volleyball, futsal and basketball.

These articles are compiled by the Otago Secondary Schools Sports Association,  which is proudly sponsored by Perpetual Guardian.

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